Last month I told you about the letter that I sent to Gov. Gianforte and Senators Daines and Tester. See my letter and the only response below. I received only one reply, from Gov. Gianforte’s office, and was very disappointed in it. Clearly, the response was 'canned' and did not specifically address the questions that I asked.
Although in his response the Governor mentions how he expressed his concerns to the Biden Administration in October, he admits that he has not received a response. Not good enough, Governor! Daines and Tester did not respond to my letter at all, demonstrating once again their disdain for legitimate inquiries from Montana citizens. Not good enough, Senators! We know exactly where Rep. Rosendale stands from the public comments that he has made and for which he has received a lot of criticism and abuse.
I will contact his office this month in an attempt to get answers to my questions. I’ll bet I receive a response from Rep. Rosendale and I will share it with you next month.
My letter to Gianforte, Daines, and Tester:
Dear *****,
I have seen reports in the media of your statements concerning Afghan refugees expected to arrive in Montana. I have read and agree with your comments that we have an obligation to those Afghans who helped the U.S. military during the conflict in Afghanistan. However, I have not seen any mention from you about the thousands of Afghans who have been granted “humanitarian parole”.
I recently received a newsletter from Soft Landing Missoula. In it they claimed that in the past few months they have “welcomed almost 90 Afghan refugees…” in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee. When I visit the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center website and run the report for Amerasian and SIV Arrivals by Nationality and State there are zero shown for Montana. From this I must infer all of the “almost 90” Afghans that have been welcomed to Montana have entered the United States under the classification of “humanitarian parole”.
There is a great deal of information on the website about how a refugee might obtain “humanitarian parole” and what benefits they would be eligible to receive, but there is no reporting at all made available to the public about how many there are or where they are located.
Question 1: Why is information available about SIV refugees but none at all about parolees?
There is a complete absence of information about the vetting process that the Administration claims to be conducting with regard to these refugees. We, the citizens, have little confidence in the level and quality of vetting that might or might not be occurring. Can you provide specific information confirming that the Afghan refugees that have arrived in Montana have been thoroughly vetted? We need more than weak assurances from an Administration that is given to stretching the truth.
Question 2: Can you tell us how these refugees are identified and vetted and if their locations in the U.S. are tracked over time?
The 'open-door' policy is allowing entry to thousands of poorly vetted, if at all, Afghan refugees. This is a disservice to the SIV Afghans because there really is no publicly visible differentiation between the two classes of refugees. The average American will be less trusting of all Afghans because we don’t know who is now living in our communities. Are they friends or foes? The government, of which you are a part, is deliberately failing to keep its citizens informed. Montanans deserve better.
I look forward to your response to my questions. This letter will be published in the March edition of the monthly newsletter of Last Chance Patriots which has a distribution of 1400 in Montana, and it is passed on to other states as well. I anticipate the opportunity to publish your response in the April edition of the newsletter.
Respectfully,
Linda Sauer
Last Chance Patriots
.................................. The Governor's Response
Dear Linda,
Thank you for reaching out to me about President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the U.S. State Department’s subsequent announcement that 75 Afghans were being located to Missoula. I appreciate your thoughts on this, and I value your input.
President Biden’s ill-planned, catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan was a national and international disgrace. The Biden administration left behind as many as 200 American citizens when the last evacuation plane departed in late August, and abandoned our Afghan allies who, as a result of supporting and helping U.S. troops, are at grave risk.
While I fully welcome our fully-vetted Afghan allies to Montana, the tragic situation in Missoula in October and others across the country raise serious concerns about whether the Biden administration is meeting its obligations to fully vet Afghans prior to resettlement.
In October, I called on President Biden to immediately halt resettlements to Montana until federal agencies provide me with adequate assurance that Afghans coming to Montana are fully vetted in accordance with federal law. I requested him to:
1.) Explain how the federal government vetted the Afghan national now charged with felony rape in Missoula, Montana, and what was missed during the process.
2.) Detail reforms that will be made to the Biden administration’s refugee vetting system to ensure that future Afghans placed in Montana are properly and fully vetted.
3.) Commit that the federal government will assume all costs associated with the accused individual’s prosecution, incarceration, and potential deportation.
As of today, the Biden administration has not responded adequately or directly to my request for answers. I will continue to press President Biden for answers.
As of December, Afghans, who are part of the original group of 75 relocated to Missoula, are being relocated to other cities across Montana in the care of various non-profit organizations. It should be up to individual communities to determine whether they will accept relocated refugees.
Many Montanans, particularly our veterans, have reached out to me to express their support for our troops, allies, and veterans who served in Afghanistan. I hope you will join me in thanking them for their selfless service and sacrifice. Their service mattered. They made a difference. They made the United States and the world a safer place. If you are a veteran in need of support, know you are not alone. Please call the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 or text 838255.
Thank you again for reaching out to me. Hearing from you and other Montanans helps me better serve you and better understand your perspective. I will continue to rely on your views as I lead Montana, which is my great honor. My door is always open. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for anything.
Sincerely,
Greg Gianforte
Governor
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I encourage all Montana Patriots to put pressure on the Governor and the Senators to give us answers about the numbers of 'humanitarian parole' Afghans that have been settled in our state and to explain why we should not be angry about the federal government’s appalling lack of communication and disregard for the well-being of American citizens.
By Linda Sauer